Understanding the semantic functions of but in middle childhood:the role of text- and sentence-level comprehension abilities

We examined Italian 7- to 9-year-olds’ understanding of the connective but when used to relate two events in sentences embedded in short stories. Performance was largely accounted for by the cognitive complexity of the sentence that included the connective and the salience of its meaning (confirmed in a second study with adults). Additional influences on children’s performance were the category of the story in which the critical sentence was embedded and the child’s text comprehension abilities. Further, by 9 years of age, performance resembled that of adults. These findings make an advance in explaining the role of information presented in a text at different levels and an individual’s linguistic abilities in children’s understanding of the connective but in stories and its development

I-MovE. An intervention to promote movement at childcare centers: Benefits for motor cognitive and socio-emotional development

The present contribution aimed to analyze the effects of a motor program intervention (i.e., I-MovE intervention) implemented indoors and outdoors at nursery school, on children’s motor, socio-emotional, and cognitive skills. The study uses a non-randomized pre-post test design. Participants were children attending twenty nursery schools in the North of Italy. The intervention activities were adapted to age: Level 1 activities were addressed to children between 6 and 12 months, and Level 2 activities were addressed to children between 13 and 43 months. Within each level, one group of children developed the intervention indoors (IN-group; Level 1: n = 10; Level 2: n = 104) and another group developed the intervention outdoors (OUT-Group; Level 1: n = 12; Level 2: n = 66). Finally, one additional group was involved as the control group (CONT-Group; Level 1: n = 15; Level 2: n = 98). Children’s motor, cognitive, and socio-emotional skills were assessed before and after the intervention by nursery school teachers. The main results showed that the motor intervention promoted children’s motor skills development in both groups (i.e., groups implementing Levels 1 and 2 activities) and the cognitive and socio-emotional skills in the older group (i.e., group implementing Level 2 activities), especially the group that performed the intervention outdoors

Home Language Activities and Expressive Vocabulary of Toddlers from Low-SES Monolingual Families and Bilingual Immigrant Families

Children from low-SES (socioeconomic status) and minority language immigrant families are at risk of vocabulary difficulties due to the less varied and complex language in the home environment. Children are less likely to be involved in home language activities (HLA) in interaction with adults in low-SES than in higher-SES families. However, few studies have investigated the HLA variability among low-SES, minority language bilingual immigrant families. This longitudinal study analyzes the frequency and duration of HLA and their predictive roles for expressive vocabulary acquisition in 70 equivalent low-SES monolingual and bilingual toddlers from minority contexts. HLA and vocabulary were assessed at 24 and 30 months in the majority language (Italian) and in total (majority+minority language) using parent and teacher reports. The frequency and duration of HLA in interaction with adults in total, but not in the majority language, at 24 months were similar for the two groups. These activities uniquely accounted for expressive vocabulary at 30 months, after accounting for total vocabulary at 24 months, in both groups. In conclusion, a minority-majority language context is not an additional risk factor for vocabulary acquisition if HLA is considered in interaction with adults in both languages. HLA are proximal environmental protective factors for vocabulary acquisition

Resección del neuroma de Morton: abordaje dorsal vs abordaje plantar

El neuroma de Morton fue mencionado por primera vez por Civinini en 1835 y descrito con detalle por Thomas Morton en 1876. Es un patología que afecta la zona distal del tercer espacio metatarsal pero también puede darse en otros espacios. Se conoce como un engrosamiento de parte del nervio que queda comprimido en el espacio intermetatarsal produciendo un dolor de características nerviosas. El tratamiento en primera instancia suele ser conservador pero cuando éste fracasa se debe recurrir a la cirugía para reseccionar la zona del nervio afectada, para ello se puede llevar a cabo un abordaje por vía dorsal o por vía plantar. Los objetivos de este trabajo son determinar ventajas e inconvenientes de cada tipo de abordaje y determinar qué abordaje es más efectivo y da menos recidivas. Se realiza una búsqueda bibliográfica en diferentes bases de datos en internet, seleccionando diez artículos de los cuales se obtienen los resultados en una muestra de 1194 pacientes intervenidos. Los abordajes utilizados para el estudio son el dorsal con 218 pacientes, el plantar longitudinal con 533 y el plantar transversal con 443. El abordaje con el porcentaje más alto de complicaciones postquirúrgicas ha sido el dorsal y los plantares los que menos complicaciones han presentado con diferencias poco significativas. Los abordajes plantares han tenido menor porcentaje de recurrencia que el dorsal aunque este último ha tenido menor número de pacientes intervenidos

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV2023): From basic to advanced approaches

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), through their complex cargo, can reflect the state of their cell of origin and change the functions and phenotypes of other cells. These features indicate strong biomarker and therapeutic potential and have generated broad interest, as evidenced by the steady year-on-year increase in the numbers of scientific publications about EVs. Important advances have been made in EV metrology and in understanding and applying EV biology. However, hurdles remain to realising the potential of EVs in domains ranging from basic biology to clinical applications due to challenges in EV nomenclature, separation from non-vesicular extracellular particles, characterisation and functional studies. To address the challenges and opportunities in this rapidly evolving field, the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) updates its 'Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles', which was first published in 2014 and then in 2018 as MISEV2014 and MISEV2018, respectively. The goal of the current document, MISEV2023, is to provide researchers with an updated snapshot of available approaches and their advantages and limitations for production, separation and characterisation of EVs from multiple sources, including cell culture, body fluids and solid tissues. In addition to presenting the latest state of the art in basic principles of EV research, this document also covers advanced techniques and approaches that are currently expanding the boundaries of the field. MISEV2023 also includes new sections on EV release and uptake and a brief discussion of in vivo approaches to study EVs. Compiling feedback from ISEV expert task forces and more than 1000 researchers, this document conveys the current state of EV research to facilitate robust scientific discoveries and move the field forward even more rapidly

Listening Text Comprehension in Preschoolers: Concurrent and Longitudinal Contribution of Cognitive and Linguistic Components

The present investigation aimed to indentify some of the lower- and higher- level linguistic and cognitive skills responsible for individual differences in listening text comprehension in preschoolers. Four- to six-year-old typically developing children participated in four cross-sectional and one longitudinal study. The first four studies aimed to identify a) concurrent specific relations between listening text comprehension and lower- and higher- level linguistic and cognitive component skills, and b) the developmental path of these relations between 4- and 6-years. The fifth study aimed to analyze longitudinal and causal relations between the specific concurrent predictors identified in the cross-sectional studies, and listening text comprehension evaluated at six-to-eight-months of distance. Results of the four cross-sectional studies showed that verbal intelligence, receptive vocabulary, verbal short-term and working memory, the ability to use linguistic context and inferential skills concurrently contribute to listening text comprehension and that these relations were stable between 4- and 6- years. On the other hand, non verbal intelligence and sentence comprehension did not specifically account for preschoolers’ text understanding. Results of the longitudinal study showed that verbal intelligence, receptive vocabulary and the ability to use the linguistic context were causally related to listening text comprehension, moreover inferential skills influenced later text comprehension. Overall, findings showed that lower-level components, namely verbal intelligence and receptive vocabulary, and higher-level components, namely the ability to use the linguistic context and inferential skills, are the most relevant factors in accounting for preschoolers’ listening text comprehensionL’obiettivo del presente lavoro era quello di analizzare il ruolo giocato da alcune abilità componenti di natura cognitiva e linguistica e di alto o basso livello nella comprensione del testo orale in bambini di età prescolare. Bambini con sviluppo tipico di età compresa tra i 4 ed i 6 anni hanno preso parte a quattro studi trasversali ed a uno studio longitudinale. Scopo dei primi quattro studi era analizzare a) le relazioni concorrenti tra abilità di comprensione del testo orale e componenti cognitive e linguistiche di basso ed alto livello, e b) il pattern di sviluppo di queste relazioni tra i 4 ed i 6 anni. Scopo del quinto studio era analizzare le relazioni longitudinali e causali tra i predittori concorrenti individuati negli studi trasversali e la comprensione del testo orale valutata a distanza di 6-8 mesi. I quattro studi trasversali hanno dimostrato che l’intelligenza verbale, il vocabolario recettivo, la memoria verbale a breve termine e di lavoro, l’abilità di utilizzare il contesto linguistico e le abilità inferenziali sono precettori specifici della comprensione del testo orale e che queste relazioni sono stabili tra i 4 ed i 6 anni. Diversamente, l’intelligenza non verbale e l’abilità di comprendere frasi non sono relate alla comprensione del testo orale. I risultati dello studio longitudinale hanno dimostrato che l’intelligenza verbale, il vocabolario recettivo e l’abilità di usare il contesto linguistico sono relati in modo causale alla comprensione del testo orale, inoltre le abilità inferenziali influenzano la successiva comprensione del testo. In conclusione, i risultati della presente indagine dimostrano che componenti di basso livello quali l’intelligenza verbale e il vocabolario recettivo, e componenti di alto livello quali l’abilità di utilizzare il contesto linguistico e le abilità inferenziali, giocano un ruolo cruciale nella comprensione del testo orale in età prescolare

Home Language Activities and Expressive Vocabulary of Toddlers from Low-SES Monolingual Families and Bilingual Immigrant Families

Children from low-SES (socioeconomic status) and minority language immigrant families are at risk of vocabulary difficulties due to the less varied and complex language in the home environment. Children are less likely to be involved in home language activities (HLA) in interaction with adults in low-SES than in higher-SES families. However, few studies have investigated the HLA variability among low-SES, minority language bilingual immigrant families. This longitudinal study analyzes the frequency and duration of HLA and their predictive roles for expressive vocabulary acquisition in 70 equivalent low-SES monolingual and bilingual toddlers from minority contexts. HLA and vocabulary were assessed at 24 and 30 months in the majority language (Italian) and in total (majority+minority language) using parent and teacher reports. The frequency and duration of HLA in interaction with adults in total, but not in the majority language, at 24 months were similar for the two groups. These activities uniquely accounted for expressive vocabulary at 30 months, after accounting for total vocabulary at 24 months, in both groups. In conclusion, a minority-majority language context is not an additional risk factor for vocabulary acquisition if HLA is considered in interaction with adults in both languages. HLA are proximal environmental protective factors for vocabulary acquisition

Alfabetizzazione bilingue: Lettura e comprensione del testo

Il capitolo 6, di Elena Florit e M. Chiara Levorato, è dedicato alle problematiche connesse all’acquisizione della lingua scritta, nelle sue due componenti di decodifica e comprensione orale. Riguardo allo sviluppo delle capacità di decodifica, le autrici prendono in esame da un lato la letteratura che dimostra come nei/nelle bilingui tale processo sia analogo e altrettanto rapido che nei monolingui, dall’altro gli studi sui precursori di tale processo, quali la conoscenza dei foni della lingua e della forma delle lettere che li rappresentano. La componente della comprensione orale viene analizzata con riferimento alla comprensione del testo, alla luce del modello Simple View of Reading: c’è un sostanziale accordo in letteratura secondo cui sia la comprensione orale del testo sia quella delle sue componenti lessicali e morfosintattiche costituiscono punti di debolezza nello sviluppo della competenza bilingue e sono causa della scarsa capacità di comprensione del testo scritto. Anche rispetto al processo di alfabetizzazione, come negli altri capitoli, vengono presi in considerazione i fattori contestuali, quale l’esposizione alla L2, lo status socio-economico e le esperienze di pre-alfabetizzazione in ambiente familiare

The simple view of reading:is it valid for different types of alphabetic orthographies?

We present a meta-analysis to test the validity of the Simple View of Reading Gough & Tunmer (Remedial and Special Education, 7:6-10, 1986) for beginner readers of English and other, more transparent, orthographies. Our meta-analytic approach established that the relative influence of decoding and linguistic comprehension on reading comprehension is different for readers of different types of orthography during the course of early reading development. Furthermore, we identified key differences in the relations among different measures of decoding and reading comprehension between readers of English and other more transparent orthographies. We discuss the implications for reading instruction and the diagnosis of reading difficulties, as well as our theoretical understanding of how component skills influence reading comprehension level